Dedicated to the Yelpa Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism

Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and Cookie Policy

Effective Date: September 23, 2026
Website: https://tanayelpa.org

Part 1: Privacy Policy

Tana Yelpa Foundation (“we”, “our”, or “us”) operates https://tanayelpa.org (the “Service”). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, store, and share personal data when you visit or interact with our Service.

1. What We Collect

Depending on how you interact with the Service, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

  • Contact Data: Name, email address, phone number, mailing address, and any information you provide when filling out forms, subscribing to newsletters, or contacting us.
  • Retreat & Event Registration Data: Additional personal information required for program attendance, such as gender (for housing assignments), emergency contact details, and relevant health, medical, or dietary considerations affecting your participation.
  • Transaction & Payment Data: Details necessary to process donations or registrations (e.g., last four digits of card, transaction amount, billing zip code). Full payment details are handled directly by secure third-party processors.
  • Usage Data: Diagnostic information regarding how you navigate the Service, such as pages viewed, duration of visits, referring URLs, and feature interactions.
  • Device & Log Data: Technical information collected automatically, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers, and access timestamps.

2. How We Use Your Data

We process personal data for the following legitimate purposes:

  • To operate, maintain, and secure the Service;
  • To process donations, event sign-ups, and retreat registrations;
  • To respond to inquiries and provide attendee support;
  • To send service communications, policy updates, security alerts, and periodic newsletter or fundraising materials (which you may opt out of at any time);
  • To detect, prevent, and mitigate security incidents, fraud, and bot traffic;
  • To comply with legal, tax, and accounting obligations.

3. Legal Bases for Processing (GDPR / Global Standards)

Where required by applicable data protection laws, our legal bases for collecting and processing your personal data include:

  • Performance of a Contract: Fulfilling event registrations, retreat processing, or product requests.
  • Consent: Where you have explicitly opted in to receive marketing communications or accepted non-essential tracking cookies.
  • Legitimate Interests: Operating our non-profit mission, protecting site security, and analyzing usage to improve website functionality.
  • Legal Obligation: Compliance with applicable laws, court orders, or tax regulations.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We share data with trusted service providers strictly as necessary to support site operations, security, and communication:

  • Analytics: Tools such as Google Analytics to understand aggregated visitor traffic and user engagement.
  • Payment Processors: Services such as Stripe or PayPal to handle transactions securely without storing full payment card details on our servers.
  • Communications: Services like Mailchimp to manage newsletter subscriptions and bulk email distribution.
  • Site Security & Infrastructure: Cloudflare (CDN/bot management) and Wordfence (firewall/malware protection) to protect our website against cyber threats.

5. International Data Transfers

If you access our Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. Where required by applicable law (such as the GDPR or UK GDPR), we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent mechanisms, to protect your data across borders.

6. Data Retention & Security

  • Retention: We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy or to satisfy legal, tax, or accounting requirements. When no longer required, data is securely deleted or anonymized.
  • Security: We employ technical and organizational measures (such as SSL encryption and standard security firewalls) designed to safeguard your data. However, no internet transmission is 100% secure, and absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

7. Your Data Protection Rights

Subject to applicable privacy laws in your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Access & Portability: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Correction: Request that inaccurate or incomplete data be corrected.
  • Deletion: Request that we delete your personal data (“right to be forgotten”).
  • Restriction or Objection: Object to or restrict certain processing activities.
  • Withdraw Consent: Revoke consent at any time where processing was based on prior consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected].

Part 2: Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the services provided by Tana Yelpa Foundation (“we”, “our”, or “us”) through https://tanayelpa.org (the “Service”). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least the age of majority in your jurisdiction to enter into these Terms and use the Service. If you are accessing the Service on behalf of an organization or entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms.

2. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

  • Violate any applicable local, state, national, or international law;
  • Infringe the intellectual property, privacy, or proprietary rights of any third party;
  • Transmit unlawful, harmful, harassing, defamatory, or objectionable content;
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, user accounts, or underlying server infrastructure;
  • Introduce viruses, malware, trojans, or destructive code;
  • Overburden, disable, or impair the proper functioning of the Service.

3. Payments, Donations, and Refunds

  • Processing: Payments, program registration fees, and donations made through the Service are processed by third-party payment providers. By submitting payment information, you agree to their respective terms and privacy policies.
  • Refund Policy: Unless explicitly stated otherwise at the point of purchase/registration or required by applicable consumer law, all program fees, registrations, and donations are non-refundable. For questions or disputes, contact [email protected].

4. Intellectual Property

The Service and all original content—including text, graphics, logos, audio recordings, written teachings, software, and trademarks—are owned by or licensed to Tana Yelpa Foundation and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and view content on the Service for personal, non-commercial use only.

5. Your Content

You retain ownership of any content you submit or post through the Service (“User Content”). By submitting User Content, you grant Tana Yelpa Foundation a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, and display that content solely to the extent necessary to operate, maintain, and provide the Service.

6. Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Service at our sole discretion, without prior notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms or pose a security risk to the Service or other users. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including IP rights, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and governing law) will remain in effect.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. Tana Yelpa Foundation does not warrant that the Service will operate uninterrupted, error-free, or completely secure.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Tana Yelpa Foundation and its directors, officers, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of your use of the Service.

Our aggregate monetary liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the Service will not exceed the greater of USD $100 or the total amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

9. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any legal action or proceeding arising out of these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Colorado, USA.

Part 3: Cookie Policy

This Cookie Policy explains how tanayelpa.org uses cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as local storage and scripts) when you visit our website, and how you can control them.

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They are widely used to ensure websites function properly, enhance site security, remember your settings, and provide basic aggregated analytics to site owners.

2. Categories of Cookies We Use

We group the cookies and scripts on our site into four functional categories:

A. Strictly Necessary & Security Cookies

These cookies are essential for the website to function securely and cannot be switched off in our systems.

  • Security & Bot Protection: Services like Cloudflare (__cf_bm) and Wordfence set necessary cookies to detect automated traffic, block malicious bots, and protect site forms against spam.
  • Spam Prevention: Google reCAPTCHA (_GRECAPTCHA) validates human input on contact and registration forms.

B. Functional & Preference Cookies

These cookies remember your preferences and settings to deliver a smoother user experience.

  • Embedded Media: Platforms such as YouTube (__Secure-YEC, YSC, VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA) set functional cookies to render embedded video players and maintain user session settings across pages.

C. Analytics & Performance Cookies

These cookies help us collect aggregated, anonymized information about how visitors use tanayelpa.org.

  • Visitor Metrics: We use Google Analytics (_ga, _ga_QL7CHWGJ2Q) to count visits, identify popular content, and measure site navigation performance. This data is aggregated and used strictly for website optimization, not for advertising.

D. Third-Party Service Integrations

We integrate several external tools to host content and support site functionality:

  • Cloudflare CDN: Content delivery and infrastructure security.
  • Wordfence: Site firewall and threat prevention.
  • Google Drive: Serving embedded public documents or downloadable resources.
  • Mailchimp: Managing newsletter signup forms and email subscriptions.

3. How to Control and Manage Cookies

You have choices regarding how cookies are set on your device:

  1. On-Site Preference Center: You can adjust your consent choices at any time through the cookie banner / consent popup available on our website.
  2. Browser Controls: Most web browsers allow you to block, manage, or delete cookies via their preference settings. Please note that blocking strictly necessary functional cookies may impact your ability to use certain features (such as security forms or embedded video players).
  3. Third-Party Opt-Outs: You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, or Cookie Policy, please reach out to us:

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